via Eurogamer


SuperVillain Studios has let everyone know its PSP version of flOw will be out in the USA on 6th March.

Unfortunately Sony was unavailable to chime in and clear things up for Europe.

FlOw first appeared as a PlayStation Network title (well, it was originally a Flash game if you want to be picky) on PS3. It sees you swimming around some uncharted waters as a tiny organism with a large appetite.

The idea is that you try to get bigger by gobbling things up, but some meals present more problems than others. We were rather taken with it, applauding its serene and hypnotic charms, although it lacked variation and progression.

The PSP conversion will have all of the PS3 content except the expansion, and be controlled by the analogue stick.

Interestingly SuperVillain Studios was first used to make that expansion not the full title, so its exclusion here seems a little bizarre.

It's yet to be priced, and obviously you lot are looking for a cheaper price point given it cost GBP 3.49 on PS3. ...

via Eurogamer


Eidos is collaborating with clever German man Reiner Knizia to make a DS game to challenge your brain.

Though far from original, Dr. Reiner Knizia's Brainbenders will be more about high-scores and working through taxing puzzles than getting a younger brain or something like that.

Challenges will vary from speed counting marine life in Cape Town to assembling stone tablets in Aztec Ruins. Clever German man will accompany you as you travel around the world, and you can send games to your friends using Wi-Fi.

Reiner Knizia is most famous for his work on board games. He gave up his job as a quantitative analyst more than ten years ago to pursue making them, and has been lumped with lots of recognition and good sales since; his Lord of the Rings game has sold over one million copies.

More of his work is being tapped up for Live Arcade, too, according to Wikipedia.

Brainbenders is yet to be dated, but you can see the first screenshots over in our gallery, right here. ...

via Computer and Video Games


In anticipation for its release on February 15, the European trailer for Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings can now be viewed in our video player.

A direct sequel to the PS2 title Final Fantasy XII, Revenant Wings is set a year after the original title.

NGamer magazine gave it a damn fine 85 percent, saying "Very simple for a strategy game, quite easy for an RPG, but there's something about Revenant Wings that makes it one of the most enjoyable and complete DS games in ages."

The magazine did note that the contrast between the PS2-style cut scenes and the sprite-based game is a little jarring, which is confirmed by the trailer.

If you don't mind the strange duality of the graphics though, it looks like a hoot.


...

via IGN


Discs of Tron, the second arcade game inspired by the classic '80s sci-fi flick, is coming to XBLA on February 13. Priced at a modest 400 Microsoft Points (US$5), Discs of Tron takes the fan-fave arcade hit, ands spiffy new backgrounds, upgraded audio and online multiplayer modes.

For readers born in the '90s, Tron was a Disney movie old folks geeked out to. It starred Jeff Bridges as an arcade genius who gets sucked into a computer program where he meets Bruce "Scarecrow & Mrs. King" Boxleitner, a rebel out to bring down the Master Control Program.

"Discs of Tron is considered an arcade classic as it mesmerized fans who wanted an entertaining and challenging experience derived from the innovative film," said Craig Relyea, senior vice president of global marketing, Disney Interactive Studios. "The game's release on Xbox Live Arcade enables multiple generations to play the addictive game in both its original form from 25 years ago and an enhanced mode with upgraded graphics and sound."
In Discs of Tron, players square off against the evil Sark with a Frisbee-like discs in hand. Throwing the disc off walls while jumping across precarious platforms in an attempt to "derezz" Sark.

You can also take DoT online for two-player co-op, VS matches, VS Speed Mode and VS Deadly Disc.

End of line. ...

via Joystiq


Not content to let their premiere racer rest with just a release and a quick update, Bizarre Creations is offering up new downloadable content for Project Gotham Racing 4. The content is split into two downloadable packs:

Free Challenge Pack (free download!)

• A playable, hydrogen-powered Peugeot Flux
• Tourist Mode - Just drive around the city and admire the scenery with no explicit goal
• "Free Roam" Cat and Mouse Mode - Implements the delayed updates previously discussed here
• Seven unlockable achievements

Premium Challenge Pack (400 MS points)

Includes all the content of the Free Challenge Pack, PLUS:

• Seven new cars - Including the "1987 BMW M3 E30 DTM," whatever that means
• World Challenge Arcade Mode - With 20 new events in three themed chapters
• Three more unlockable achievements

The packs will be available for download on Feb. 14, just in time to play Cat and Mouse with your valentine. ...

via Eurogamer


Nintendo hasn't won this generation of consoles yet, says Microsoft Game Studios' corporate vice president Shane Kim.


Nintendo Wii launched a year later than Xbox 360, but has already broken through the 20-million-unit barrier worldwide, while Microsoft's most recently announced sales figure is 17.7 million.

Asked about broadening Microsoft's demographic, Kim reportedly said: "Let's be honest - when your flagship titles are Halo and Gears of War, most people naturally attribute a brand of M-rated hardcore to your platform. It does make it more challenging to reach out to a more mainstream customer."

Kim also rejected claims that the platform holder played all its cards for the 2007 Christmas period.

"I think the pipeline is very stacked, but you just don't know about it," he told his interrogator, New York Times reporter Seth Schiesel.

And he reckons 360 will go on and on, and won't be quickly replaced like the original Xbox.

"Our belief is that the Xbox 360 will have a very long life cycle. It is much different than the original Xbox," he explained. "For strategic reasons, we launched the 360 four years after original," he said. ...

via Computer and Video Games


New details regarding the Bring Down the Sky downloadable content for Mass Effect have been confirmed by Bioware's community co-ordinator Chris Priestly.

Apparently, the new content doesn't take place after the game's conclusion, but in fact exists as one of the exploratory side-missions you can understake in the middle of the game.

So that means you'll need to dig out those save files if you've already completed the RPG.

Priestly went on to confirm there will be full voice over for English, French, German and Italian, and will include Spanish and Polish subtitles.

Bioware has previously stated that the downloadable content would bridge the gap between the first two games in the trilogy, so the news that this content comes in the form of a playable side-mission in the actual game is surprising, and somewhat irritating for anyone forced to play through the first few hours if they haven't kept their save files.

Is Mass Effect worth playing through again for ninety minutes worth of new content? Let us know below.


Screenshots ...

via IGN


Another quiet week for the Virtual Console, as again just one solitary title makes its way to the service – this time it's Hudson Soft's PC Engine CD shmup Lords of Thunder.

A side-scrolling shooter in dashing fantasy attire, the game is at least relatively new to these shores – unless you're one of the few that managed to pick up the lesser-spotted Mega CD iteration, currently going for in excess of 50 pounds on eBay. It's no genre classic, though there's a sizeable amount of shooting larks to be had, all carried out to a satisfying hard rock backdrop. For 800 Wii points it's all yours to keep.

Virtual Console European Releases, February 8

PC Engine CD - 800 Wii Points

Lords of Thunder (1993) ...

via Kotaku




Plastic DS Lite covers are so pedestrian. Boring, even! Here's a snake skin DS Lite cover. Yes, SNAKE SKIN. And you can even buy it for ¥12,800 (US $120). They really should've called this the DSssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss. ...